Chapter Four
Josh was exhausted. He’d spent more than a few nights praying for snow, but now he’d had enough. Because he’d wasted so much time on the damn Christmas decorations, he was behind on everything else. But trimming the tree while Rosie micromanaged from the couch sounded even worse than dealing with a foot of wet, heavy snow instead of getting the barn ready.
Part of their plan to spruce up the lodge included redoing the floor out there, because they allowed guests to park their snowmobiles in the barn. It kept them snow-free and it made people feel more secure than just pulling them into the yard. But, thanks to the renovations, there was building debris all over the damn place and he had to clean it up, so Mother Nature had kicked him in the balls by dropping double the white stuff they’d expected.
The plow made quick work of the driveway and cut a wide path to the barn, but thanks to the raised landscaping his mother had chosen to line the walkways many years ago, the sidewalks leading to the doors had to be done by snowblower.
He’d just fired it up when he saw Andy Miller’s truck coming up the drive, and he could have cried in relief. He needed the help.
“Would’ve been here earlier,” Andy said when he’d parked alongside Josh’s truck, “but I had to stop and help a lady get her car out of the ditch.”
“I didn’t know you were coming. You do know it’s Sunday, right?”
“Got nothing better to do. I called Rose this morning, but she forbade me from visiting because of the snow. Rather be here than sit on my ass in front of the TV all day.”
“I can use the help.” That was the understatement of the year. Not only was he dog tired, but his leg wasn’t too happy about the cold. “When I called her last night, she was still waiting for the doctor to do his late rounds. Is she still scheduled to get out tomorrow?”
Andy nodded, pulling on his gloves. “That’s the plan. She sounded good, but we’re going to have to duct tape her down to keep her from overdoing it.”
“Katie should be here any time with her stuff. She can do the duct taping.”
“Yeah.” Andy pointed to the snowblower. “Even just standing here I can see you’re favoring that leg. Why don’t you go do some desk work for a while and I’ll take care of this.”
“You sure you don’t mind? I need to make a phone call and it might be smart to rest it for a few minutes before I start on that barn.”
Andy waved him off and Josh went through the back door into the kitchen. He stepped out of his boots and threw his coat on the back of the chair since he’d be putting it back on. Then he pulled out his cell phone and scrolled through his contacts to Sean’s number.
His brother, who was the middle of the five kids, answered on the third ring. “Hey, Josh, what’s up?”
“You busy?”
“I can spare a few minutes. How’s Rose?”
“Good enough so the doctors are releasing her back into the wild tomorrow.”
“Two bouts of pneumonia and winter hasn’t even really started yet,” Sean said. “Maybe we should talk about hiring some help. A teenager or something.”
“Katie’s moving in for a while.”
“Really?” Sean asked, but again with the reeeeaaaally.
“Why does everybody say it like that?”
Sean either had a funny cough or choked off a laugh. “No reason. What about the barbershop?”
Josh explained how she was cutting back to part-time hours temporarily and then filled him in a little more on Rosie’s doctor reports, before moving on to the real reason he’d called. “Are you and Emma coming for the Christmas Eve party or what?”
There were a few seconds of silence. “We’re still talking about it, actually. But are you sure it’s a good idea? I mean, Rosie shouldn’t be worrying about feeding everybody and—”
“She’s not. Katie and I are handling everything.”
Sean laughed and Josh thought about hanging up on him. “So we’ll be having chips, dip and a deli platter?”
“You’re funny.”
“So I called Mitch the other night and he said, based on the number of reservations coming in, the lodge should have a good season.”
“We haven’t had this many bookings in years,” Josh admitted. “And the trails aren’t even open yet. They always jump up once the guys in southern New England realize we’re riding up here and they’re not.”
“At this rate, it won’t be long before we have to all get together and discuss what we want to do.”
“I know.”